France crush Australia’s dreams to win third Fed Cup crown

French duo of Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia produced a scintillating performance in their deciding doubles match to dash Australia’s hopes of winning the first Fed Cup title in 45 years on Sunday.

They defeated the Australian pair of Ashleigh Barty and Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-3 in straight sets to steer France to the prestigious title for the first time since 2003.

Australia failed to break the Fed Cup final jinx once more, losing last nine title showdowns they have appeared in so far. However it was France’s third trophy and first since they defeated US 16 years ago in 2003.

Mladenovic and Garcia, who won the 2016 French Open doubles title, bounced back from going an early break down in the first set to expose Stosur’s weaknesses, with the veteran out-of-sorts and making too many mistakes.

Despite losing the singles rubber against Mladenovic earlier on Sunday, world number one Barty did try her best to keep Australian hopes alive with a gritty fight but a more sublime French pair dominated the proceeding and steered their team to the third title.

“I’m the proudest man on the planet right now, I’m so proud of my girls and my team. They deserve it because they fought for a long time for this title,” ecstatic France captain Julien Benneteau said.

“For sure I am going to have a lot of beers now.” For Mladenovic and Garcia it was sweet revenge after they lost the deciding rubber in the 2016 final against the Czech Republic.

“Definitely, it’s lots of emotion to share this with Caroline,” said Mladenovic.

“Three years ago we failed on the last step of the tie. Today we just wanted to take this little revenge for oursleves and it’s not describible how we feel right now.”

The final marked the last Fed Cup played under the current format, with an overhaul next year seeing 12 nations compete in a six-day event in Budapest.

That will mean an end to home ties and the atmosphere they bring, with the 26,951 fans turning up over two days in Perth the second-highest Fed Cup attendance on record after Roland Garros (30,000) in 2005.

The doubles clash was set up by Ajla Tomljanovic hauling the home team back into the tie by beating France’s Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 7-5.

She came on court after 40th-ranked Mladenovic upset Barty 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/1) in an epic. Croatian-born Tomljanovic, in her Fed Cup debut for Australia, had been thrashed 6-1, 6-1 by Mladenovic in the opening singles rubber on Saturday.

But captain Alica Molik kept faith with her and she bounced back to beat Parmentier 6-4, 7-5.

“We gave everything today, we fell just a fraction short. That happens,” said Molik.

Earlier Barty, who has been in scintillating form, whipping Garcia 6-0, 6-0 on Saturday after winning the WTA Finals in China last weekend, crashed in a classic.

“From my point of view I fought as hard as I could and I hope that I did my team proud and all Australians proud. I fought with everything I had left,” said Barty.

Barty started where she left off after the “double bagel” of Garcia on Saturday, breaking Mladenovic’s first service game with a net volley to extend her streak to 15 games this weekend.

But Mladenovic held serve to end the Barty run and it became a closer affair before the Australian began forcing errors to take the first set.

Barty saved five break points in the opening game of the second set, but Mladenovic finally worked a first crucial break with some quality passing shots, with a forehand long from Barty giving her a 5-4 lead.

She held her nerve to serve out the set. Mladenovic, who beat Barty on clay in Rome earlier this year, was on a roll with the French star breaking then holding for a 3-1 third-set lead.

Stung, Barty rallied for 3-3 but the errors again crept in and the set ultimately went to a tense tie breaker where Mladenovic triumphed.

Agencies